Announcements
-
Talk from Lucas Kovar
Please join us at the technical talk by Dr. Lucas Kovar from Industrial Light & Magic.
Speaker: Dr. Lucas Kovar from Industrial Light & Magic
Location: Levine 307
Time: June 15th, Monday, at 11AM
Title: Practical Real-Time Character Animation for Video Games
Abstract: Character animation in video games must not only be pleasing to the eye, but responsive to user input, flexible under changing gameplay conditions, and computable under tight limits on time and memory. In this talk I will discuss the synthesis techniques and implementation strategies used to meet these requirements in the animation engine developed internally for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. - New book available!
Virtual Crowds: Methods, Simulation, and Control is now available from Morgan & Claypool Publishers. If your institution subscribes to their synthesis lectures, then you can download it for free! - Course addition for Fall 2009!
Visualizing the Past/Peopling the Past (ANTH 258 / ANTH 620 / CIS 106)
Wednesdays 6:00 - 9:00pm
Most people’s information about the Past is drawn from coffee table picture books, popular movies, video games, documentaries about discoveries of “ancient, mysterious, and lost” civilizations, and tours often lead by guides of limited or even dubious credentials. How are these ideas presented, formed, and circulated? Who creates and selects the information presented in this diverse media? Are these presentations accurate? Do they promote or hurt scientific explanations? Can the artistic, aesthetic, and scientific realms be bridged to effectively promote the past? How can modern technologies be applied to do a better job at presenting what is difficult to experience firsthand? This class will focus on case studies, critiques, and methods of how archaeology and the past are created, presented and used in movies, museums, games, the internet, and art. Students will map, model, and interpret the sacred landscape of the Incas as a studio-seminar project.
Dawn and Welton Becket DMD Achievement Award (2009): Ariela Nurko
If you would like to receive email announcements of events related to CG@Penn, you can join our CG mailing list.
In May 2008, Norm Badler lectured at DGPis40: Scientific Workshop & 40th Anniversary Reunion, at the University of Toronto. Click here for the video.
Click here for a listing of past events.
Goals of HMS
The Center for Human Modeling and Simulation exists to investigate computer graphics modeling and animation techniques for embodied agents, virtual humans, and their applications. Major foci involve developing behavior-based animation of human movement especially for gesture, gait, and facial expression, constructing a parameterized action representation for real-time simulation and animation, and understanding the relationship between human movement, natural language, and communication.
Origins
In January 1994, the former Computer Graphics Research Laboratory of the Computer and Information Science Department became the Center for Human Modeling and Simulation (HMS). Research on human body modeling and simulation had been underway in the laboratory since 1975. The lab achieved international recognition for its research, specifically for the Jack software.
The Center provides a collegial and open atmosphere in which faculty, staff, and students cooperate and coordinate project work. Nearly a dozen Ph.D. students engage in collaborative research efforts with Masters and Undergraduate students.
Education Links to HMS
Part of Computer Graphics at the University of Pennsylvania, the HMS Center has an affiliated Master of Science in Engineering in Computer Graphics and Game Technology program and an affiliated undergraduate degree program, called Digital Media Design. The relationship between HMS and DMD provides exceptional opportunities for undergraduate research.
HMS also runs a summer program for high school students. Students create their own 3-D character from scratch and work on an animation-short involving their character. CG@Penn also works with the Microsoft School of the Future through a one-credit course. Penn students learn multimedia tools and technology by creating tutorials and then teach them at the high school.
